Day 146 Boonoo Boonoo River

Harrigan's Lane

NSW Day 4 Sunday 17th October, 2021

Overall Day 146 20.9km

2889.3 km walked  / 2209.6km remaining

A near full moon and first light look similar from inside the tent and I fooled myself by starting my morning ritual without looking at my watch. Not a mistake I want to make again as it was only 2.40am and I didn't sleep again after. 

These puffballs kept me company for a while
So at real first light I got under way and went back the kilometre to Harrigans Lane. This moves from grazing land to forest areas.  I had breakfast at the last high point and still had a bit of phone signal but not enough to send photos. 

The lane descends steeply to Boonoo Boonoo River (said Bunoo boonoo or the other way round). I followed the horse trail directions instead of the road. I think it's a much better view even if I had to get my boots wet crossing the river. The path is not quite as per my book and I didn't check for updates but I got back on track.

Bald Rock
Then it's a long climb out. The road is a whitish sandy gravel that reflects the heat and light. My legs weren't playing today and I had a few stops to get up the hill. I wouldn't have thought I had lost conditioning so soon. But as the afternoon wore on there was some steep little climbs out of gullies that knackered me. 

Into the forest
I decided to stop and rest. I wasn't feeling that hungry but after a half hour rest and then another few climbs I decided eating maybe a good idea. I had a good hours rest and moved off but I still didn't have the strength. In the end I had to settle on camping about 6 kilometres shorter than where I planned. If I slow down it  doesn't look good for my plan to get to the Gwydir Highway, where my bucket is, with the food I have. 10 days food is what I started with and the load was heavy. Whilst I covered 24 kilometres today I wanted the extra 6 to get me past a closed campsite tomorrow.
Before the climb down

The body is not feeling it. Maybe it's the hills but I'm blowing like a steam train.  Oh well I will continue on and see how it goes. There are plenty of outs so it's not like I'm heading further into trouble.